[Editor’s Note: Agents of Transformation is an independent GeekWire series and 2026 event, underwritten by Accenture, exploring the people, companies, and ideas behind the rise of AI agents.]
What distinguishes the dot-com bubble from today’s AI boom? For serial entrepreneurs David ShimThese are two things that the early Internet never had: real business models and customers willing to pay.
People used the early Internet because it was free and subsidized by incentives like gift certificates and free shipping. Today, he said, companies and consumers are paying real money and finding real value in AI tools that scale to tens of millions in revenue within months.
but Read AI The co-founder and CEO, who has built and led companies through multiple technology cycles over the past 25 years, doesn’t completely dismiss the idea of an AI bubble. Shim points out the hypothetical “edge” of the industry, where Some companies Massive valuations are warranting despite no product and no revenue — a phenomenon he describes as a “100% bubble.”
He also quoted AMD’s deal with OpenAI – where the chipmaker offered stock incentives tied to a large chip purchase – as another example of froth on margins. The arrangement had “little bits” of the 2000s-era sense of trading, bartering and unusual financial engineering that briefly boosted AMD’s stock.
But even that, in his view, is more of an outlier than a systematic warning sign.
“I think it’s a bubble, but I don’t think it’s going to burst anytime soon,” Shim said. “And so I think at the end of the day it’s going to be a slow release.”
Shim, who was named CEO of the Year at this year’s GeekWire Awards, previously led Foursquare and sold startup Placed to Snap. He now leads Read AI, which has raised more than $80 million and landed major enterprise customers for its cross-platform AI meeting assistant and productivity tools.
He made the comments during a wide-ranging interview with GeekWire co-founder John Cook. They spoke about AI, productivity and the future of work at a recent dinner event hosted in partnership with Accenture in conjunction with GeekWire’s new “Agents of Transformation” editorial series.
We cover the discussion in this episode of the GeekWire podcast. Listen above, and subscribe to GeekWire Apple Podcasts, SpotifyOr wherever you listen. Continue reading for more takeaways.
Successful AI agents solve specific problems: The most effective AI implementations will be invisible infrastructure focused on specialized tasks, not broad all-purpose assistants. The term “agent” itself will fade into the background as technology matures and becomes more integrated
Human psychology is shaping AI deployments: Internally, ReadAI is testing an AI assistant called “Ada” that schedules meetings by learning users’ communication patterns and priorities. It works so fast, he says, that Read AI is creating a delay between its responses, “driving people crazy” after finding these quick replies, making them think their messages weren’t read carefully.
Global adoption without traditional localization: Read AI captures 1% of Colombia’s population without local workers or employees, demonstrating AI’s ability to scale internationally in a way previous technologies could not.
“Multiplayer AI” will unlock more values: Shim says an AI’s value is limited when it only knows one person’s data. He believes a key is connecting AI across teams, pulling information from co-workers’ work to answer questions, including meetings you haven’t attended and files you’ve never seen.
“Digital twins” are the next, controversial frontier: Shim predicts a future where a departing employee can be “resurrected” from their work data, allowing companies to query that person’s institutional knowledge. The idea is controversial and “a little scary,” he said, but it can be invaluable in answering questions that only former employees would know.
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